An interferometric measuring device is discussed in German Patent No. 197 21 843. This interferometric measuring device is designed as a white light interferometer measuring device having a section designed as a modulation interferometer and a section designed as an imaging interferometer assigned to the object to be measured. The imaging interferometer is designed so that measurements may be performed even in tight spaces. A first partial beam may be further divided into a reference partial beam and at least one measuring partial beam, another beam splitter and a reference mirror being situated in a common measuring probe. Such a measuring probe may be inserted into hollow spaces. However, if vibration occurs during a measurement in a manufacturing process, the measurement result may be inaccurate due to vibration of the measuring device and/or the object to be measured.
The principles of white-light interferometry or short-coherence interferometry are discussed, for example, by P. de Groot, L. Deck, “Surface profiling by analysis of white-light interferograms in the spatial frequency domain,” J. Mod. Opt., Vol. 42, No. 2, 389–401, 1995, and T. Maack, G. Notni, W. Schreiber, W. D. Prenzel, “Endoskopisches 3D-Formmesssystem [Endoscopic 3D Mold Measuring System]” in Jahrbuch für Optik und Feinmechanik [Yearbook for Optics and Precision Mechanics], W. D. Prenzel, ed., Verlag Schiele & Schoen, Berlin 231–240, 1998.
Furthermore, the design of an interferometric measuring device is also discussed in German Patent No. 197 21 843. In the case of this measuring device, a radiation generating unit, e.g., an LED or a superluminescence diode, emits a short-coherent radiation which is split by a beam splitter into a first partial beam, which is sent via an object light path, and a second partial beam which is sent via a reference light path. The reference light path is varied periodically by two deflector elements and a stationary diffraction grating situated behind it by triggering the deflector elements to scan the object surface in the depth direction. If the object light path and the reference light path correspond, the result may be a maximum interference contrast, which is detected by an analyzer device downstream from the photodetector device.
Another white-light interferometer measuring device is discussed in German Published Patent Application No. 41 08 944 A1, in which a moving mirror is used to change the light path in the reference beam path. Even with these methods, it is possible that vibration of the measuring device and/or the object to be measured will affect the measurement result.